Ride Out June 2008

It was a brilliant sunny day as we gathered at Get Bike's showroom in Northfields, Ealing. The forecast was good and we were all keen to go. Present were Louis (Get Bike owner) on the ex-Special Escorts BMW, with Lenny (Get Bike Instructor) on it's matching pair. Phil (Get Bike customer) on his '07 GSXR600, Andrew on his '07 Transalp, Darren on a SV650 (kindly lent by Get Bike) and Jermaine and his brave pillion on another newer SV650.

Time was getting on and we refuelled and headed down to the standing stones at Avebury - the roads were now free of traffic and there were some great bends to practice our techniques.

Eventually, we hit the road and headed to Runnymede to meet up with the rest of the team; Martin (Get Bike Instructor) on his Blackbird and Leanne on her VTR. We made slow progress in the group, stuck in the traffic and road works around Henley until eventually we could really get going on our way to Marlborough. It was when the roads opened up and the National Speed Limit sign's appeared that the experience of being led by either Lenny or Martin that really showed us the way. Their observation was astounding as they pointed out speed cameras, staggered junctions, telegraph poles on the horizon indicating sharp bends: as Martin said "on these bikes you could overtake anywhere, it's more about looking out for places which weren't overtaking options."

Once we arrived in Marlborough we stopped for amazing fresh sandwiches and coffee and headed off the river to eat them. Time was getting on and we refuelled and headed down to the standing stones at Avebury - the roads were now free of traffic and there were some great bends to practice our techniques.

At Avebury we stopped at Red Lion pub for coffees, marvelling at the lunacy of the developers building a an S bend righ through the middle of this ancient monument. Still we took advantage of these prominently placed sweeping S bend for some pictures. We all managed to leave our biks for 1/2 an hour and walked through the prehistoric stones, speculating as every other visitor does about how they arrived here from Wales and their purpose. I must say I wasn't 100% convinced by Lennie's explanation that Merlin affected the laws of relativity to get them there!

After this we followed an amazing circuit around Salisbury plain, past the tank paths and then finally past another pre-historic monument at Stone Henge. We stopped for dinner and then it was a case of dashing back along the A303 and M3 back to London before it got too late. It was about 10.30 by the time I got home, happy and exhilerated (and a little stiff) from the 12 hour ride; my riding knocked back into shape by following the instructors and riding in the group. Fantastic - when's the next one Lenny?